Google Android

The Information technology next generation Apple iPad is available for pre-order now and lands on store shelves March 16. If you bought an iPad 2, which was released about this time last year, the question is, are the upgrades to the new iPad worth shelling out another $ 500 plus to buy one? If you don’t have a Apple tablet yet or have the original Apple iPad, the financial picture looks a bit better although you’ll want to compare the new iPad to the competition from Google Android based tablets. And is it better to save $100 and buy one of the now discounted iPad 2s, starting at $419? Here are some of the features on the new Apple iPad so you can compare for yourself: The new iPad has a much improved screen and touche. Called high-resolution Retina display it has 2084-by-1536-pixel resolution, or 3.1 million pixels, 4 - times that of the Apple iPad 2. The new iPad has more processing power, with an A5X chip with quad-core graphics compared to the A5 dual-core processor of the iPad 2, making it a gain for games and other apps that require more power than simply catching up on email or Facebook. The new Apple iPad is also LTE-enabled, LTE being the new higher speed networks rolled in Canada already by the three major carriers, Telus, Bell and Rogers. Like the earlier generation iPads, the new one comes in a Wi-Fi-only version, that starts at $519, and Wi-Fi and 4G (LTE) models that start at $649. The battery life stays the same at nine hours on a cellular data network and ten hours if you’re on Wi-Fi. It also has an improved camera. In the 4G/LTE version you can set up a Wi-Fi hot spot on it, meaning you can use your Apple iPad to link other wireless devices to the data network — a useful function particularly if you’re travelling and you don’t want to pay for a data plan for both your smart phone and your tablet. Check http://www.apple.com/ca.

TV Apple

It’s Apple week, with Apple also releasing an updated version of its set-top box Apple Company TV. For many people this is a relatively inexpensive way of turning an older television into one that is Internet-connected and can link to Netflix, iTunes movies and Apple TV shows, YouTube and other online content. It also syncs with your other Apple devices and Apple’s online storage system, the iCloud. The new Apple TV has high-definition 1080p video and unlike its predecessor, this one will be able to wirelessly access movies from iCloud that you’ve purchased on your Apple iPad or Apple iPhone. It also has Air Play, already a feature of the earlier Apple TV, which lets you stream wirelessly from your iPhone, iPad, or iTouch to your television. So, for example, if you have a bunch of vacation snapshots on your iPhone or iPad, you can easily show them off on your big TV screen. www.apple.com/ca/appletv.If you’re debating whether or not to go Apple or Android with a new tablet computer, there are a number of new tablets based on the Google Android operating system, including the Iconia tab A200 that’s just arriving in Canada. At 10.1-inches (25 cm), it’s just a bit bigger than the iPad although at 12.7 mm in depth, it’s a bit heftier. It’s Wi-Fi only; the screen is 1280 by 800 resolution and it has a NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core mobile processor. You can use Flash-based applications on the A200 although with Adobe’s shift to HTML - 5 over its Flash Player for mobile web, that’s becoming less of an issue. Battery life is eight hours; it has a USB 2.0 port so you can hook up other devices as well as a MicroSD slot and a micro Universal-serial-bus (usb) port. The front-facing two-megapixel camera is good for Online video chats and takes still photos. www.acer.ca.

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Women in Technology

The world celebrated women’s day last week. But in technology, Silicon Valley still remains largely a boys’ club except few women personalities who made their way up into great positions. Here we list a few among the celebrated tech women.

Virginia Rometty - CEO, IBM

Virginia Rometty is the first female CEO of IBM. She joined the IBM as a systems engineer more than 30 years ago andas a Senior VP of Global Business Service in 2002, she completely changed the direction of IBM by helping lead its $3.5 billion takeover of Pricewaterhouse Coopers, a tedious task due to the size and difference in corporate culture of the IBM company. She is also responsible for pushing the IBM into emerging markets like Brazil and China.

Marissa Mayer - VP Location and Local Services, Google

Mayer was the first female engineer hired at Google and one of their first 20 employees, joining the Google in June 1999. She is significantly responsible for the success of the UIs of Google Search and Gmail, which made her the ideal candidate to control Google main business – advertising. As the Vice President of location and local service now, she is responsible for generating the maximum revenue for the Google company.

Sheryl Sandberg - COO, Facebook

Sandberg might be the most experienced person in Facebook Company. Prior to joining Facebook Company, this Harvard topper in economics served as the vice president of global online sales and operations at Google and before that, Sheryl Sandberg was served the Chief of Staff for United States Department of Treasury. With her experience in the field, this highest paid employee of Facebook turned company into a $100 billion worth business.

Shaherose Charania

Shaherose Charania might have invented the most supporting platform for the women- Women 2.0, a global network and social platform for aspiring and current female founders of technology ventures. This expert of mobile and telephony startups is now running Founder Labs, a pre-idea incubator for mobile startups. Earlier Shaherose Charania had worked in Ribbit, which was acquired by British Telecom and also at Jajah, later acquired by Telefonica.

Katie Jacobs Stanton - Head of International Strategy, Twitter

Katie was appointed as the head of international strategy at Twitter Company in beginning of 2010. Prior to that Katie was a prominent figure in Google where her work included Google Finance, Google Moderator and Open Social initiative. Katie Jacobs was also a special advisor to the Office of Innovation at U.S. Department of State. She was behind Twitter’s revised censorship policy.

Ursula Burns - Chairman and CEO, Xerox

Ursula Burns is a perfect example for an American success story. Ursula Burns joined Xerox where she worked as an intern and build her way up in the ladder till she became the first Afro-American woman to head a Fortune 5OO company. Ursula presided over the $6.4 billion acquisition of Affiliated Computer Services,Xerox’s largest deal in history.

Caterina Fake - Cofounder, Flickr

Millions of people around the world will be thanking Flickr every time they upload an image into the website which save their space and manage their memories. But the credit goes to Caterina, who along with her then-husband Stewart Butterfield, invented the photo-sharing site, taking idea from their own business failure- Ludicorp a company which developed “Game Neverending”- a multiplayer online role playing game. Eventhough her first attempt went bankrupt, she made$35 million when Yahoo acquired Flickr in 2005. Caterina recently launched Pinwheel, which lets you find and leave notes around the world.

Jessica Livingston - Cofounder, Y Combinator

Jessica Livingston, along with her husband Paul Graham and Robert Morris and Trevor Blackwell launched Y Combinator, the popular three month boot camp for startups in Silicon Valley. Their programme had already launched more than 300 startups including Dropbox, Reddit and Airbnb and is processing a lot more.